In large enterprise businesses, data files are regularly communicated to external entities, such as customers/clients, third-party entities or the like. These data transmissions may involve the transmission of data that confidential or otherwise of a secure nature. As such, the communication of such data typically occurs across a secure data channel, such as FTPS (File Transfer Protocol Secure) or the like. With the proliferation of such communications across a large entity invariably data is communicated that should not have otherwise been communicated. For example, a data file contains data items and/or data elements that should not have been communicated to an external entity. Such inclusion of erroneous data items and/or data elements may occur intentionally or unintentional.
While it is conceivably to provide for interrogation of data once the data is in the data channel, in many instances the data channel will have limited to no visibility to the data files being communicated or may not desire to interrogate the data while in transient due the risk imposed on the communication or the latency resulting.
In addition to the data files containing data items/data elements not intended for inclusion in the data file, other forms of erroneous data transmissions may occur. For example, data may be communicated to external recipients that are not authorized to receive such data (e.g., non-public or confidential information being communicated to an external recipient that is authorized to only receive public (non-secure) information). In addition, data that is classified for internal communication only may be communicated to an external recipient.
Therefore, a need exists to develop systems, apparatus, computer program products, methods and the like that insure that data files being communicated to external recipients actually contain the same data that the data files purport to contain. The desired systems should provide for insuring content validity, as well as, insuring that the data being communicated is correct in type (i.e., data authorized for external communication) and that the external recipient is authorized to receive the type of date being communicated. Moreover, the desired systems and the like should provide for conducting the validity and interrogation checks on the data prior to the data entering the data channel (i.e., between the time that the data files are created and the time when the data files enter the data channel, preferably just prior to the data files entering the data channel).